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Gary Thompson's Photo Tips

In the Tip of the Month Gary Thompson, President of ICPG,
shares his special tips to help all of us take better pictures.
Check back each month for more examples.
All photographs copyright Gary Thompson.

	December 2008 180 Degree Sunrises and Sunsets Most of us have a tendency to shoot sunrises and sunsets directly into the sun. Although this can be very productive, especially if there are interesting back lit clouds, an alert photographer will remember to observe lighting conditions in all directions. Turn your back to the sun every once in a while and look 180 degrees from the rising or setting sun. Sometimes you will see beautifully front lit clouds and dramatic front lit subject matter. My example image was taken at Birch Point State Park in Maine. There was a wonderful sunset in the west but I couldn't find interesting subject matter in that direction. It started to rain and I turned to the east and was astonished to find colorful clouds and a rainbow. I immediately turned my cameras to the east and began photographing. My rainbow images were good, but my example image with radiating clouds and rock patterns is my favorite. The blue color results from the reflection of the blue sky on the wet sand and rocks.
	November 2008 Sunbursting Sunrises and Sunsets One of the main obstacles in shooting directly into the sun during sunrises and sunsets is that lens flare is almost certain to occur. To counteract this, I sometimes sunburst the sun against a silhouetted subject. I step down my aperture to f-22 and rather precisely position my tripod and camera so that only a tiny sliver of the sun is showing. A tiny sliver is about 1/50th or 1/100th of the sun. Any larger amount of sun will almost certainly produce lens flare. To check on lens flare and the sunburst itself I push in my depth-of-field button to observe the effects of the f-22 aperture. In my example image, I used a sunburst to capture my rendition of the often photographed Mesa Arch. Note that the image was taken about 20 minutes after sunrise but, because of the sunburst, still communicates the feeling of sunrise. The large difference in light intensity of the sunrise and the back and underside of the arch made it necessary for me to bracket my exposures widely. I generally avoid using a polarizer when shooting into the sun as it usually has no effect and increases the probability for lens flare.
	October 2009 Painting with Snow Flakes Snow storms present opportunities to create "painterly" effects in winter scenes. These effects are best achieved when the storm has large, fluffy, floating snow flakes. I like to freeze, figuratively speaking, the snow flakes against a dark background by using relatively fast shutter speeds like 1/125 second if possible. Usually this means that I have to sacrifice the depth of field by using large apertures. The short depth of field is generally not a problem in that most of the image will be muted anyway by the snow flakes frozen in space. If you use slower shutter speeds like 1/30 second or if the storm is driven by strong winds, the result will not be painterly, but will look more like a rain storm. The example rural landscape, entitled "Winter Windmill", was taken in Staunton, VA during a heavy snow storm.
	September 2009 "S" Curves "S" curves in streams, rocks, trails, roadways, and wherever present provide excellent compositional possibilities. Some say the "S" curve is naturally sensual. I'm not sure, but I do know that when used in an image it can be very pleasant. My example image is of "Sleepy Hollow Farm" formerly called "Gray's Farm". It is located in the back country of Vermont a few miles north of Woodstock. The sweeping portion of the "S" curve provided by the driveway is not only pleasing, but also leads the eye smoothly down into the image and ultimately to the rustic barn. In this instance even a portion of a full "S: curve is effective. The heavy rain from the fallout of a July hurricane enhanced the ambiance and moodiness of this composition.
Bubbles	August 2008 How to deal with Photo Block Occasionally photographers experience "photo block" like writer's develop "writer's block". On those hopefully rare occasions I like to dramatically change my photographic strategy. If working a landscape with fairly normal lenses and little success I might try an extreme wide angle lens (~ 15 mm) and make the foreground about 75 percent of the image. Another approach might be to take a 400 mm lens and isolate on only one small but interesting portion of the landscape. Sometimes I will try in camera multiple exposures. When shooting my example image I was leading a group of photographers on Rialto Beach in Olympic National Park on a rainy and dreary day. Nothing seemed to have interest to me. As the leader of the group I needed to put up a good front and to be enthusiastic. I happened to notice some interesting sea foam bubbles along the water's edge. Quickly I replaced my normal zoom lens with a macro lens and went in very close to the sea bubbles. In the macro mode I was able to see colors and reflections that I had not initially seen. I first noticed the strong triangular lines reflected from my tripod. A huge rather ugly blob in the center of the triangle turned out to be my body's reflection. In order to break up the blob I threw my arms over my head into a "touchdown" signal and took several bracketed images using my two second shutter delay. I shot almost a roll of film with about 50 percent of the images being quite good. Amazingly, this has been a good selling image. Two of the images were independently purchased by women whose boy friends were sky divers.
Schooner and the Rowboat	July 2008 Be alert for the Magic Moment When taking photographs be alert for the "magic moment". If time and light allows, I try to patiently work an image to determine the best composition. During that time I take a few shots in case the light or part of the composition changes. While working the scene try to anticipate changes before they occur. Scan the sky to see if light changes are likely to happen and be aware of movement within the composition. In the case of my example image, "Schooner and the Rowboat", I had taken several images of the schooner using the rocks as foreground. Suddenly I noticed two men in a dinghy rowing out towards the schooner. Hoping that they would actually approach the schooner, I waited until they reached a complementary position before taking the image. My images of the "schooner" with foreground rocks were actually quite good, but the image with the addition of the men in the dinghy has been one of my all time best selling prints.
Mossy Forest	July 2008 "Blah Day" Photography On "blah" lighting days I love to go to forested areas. The soft, diffused, subtle, lighting of cloudy overcast days is wonderful for leveling the light intensities of shadows and highlights. When using evaluative or matrix metering on these kinds of days, the camera's recommended reading for a "right on exposure" is usually quite good. The accompanying image of a forested area on Deer Island, Maine was taken on one of those dreary "blah" lighting days. On a bright sunny day this scene might be quite beautiful to the human eye, however the resulting print would probably have much too much contrast.
Texas Falls	June 2008 Bad Weather Means Good Photography David Muench has a saying that, "Bad Weather means Good Photography". I have found this to be very true. Some of the best sunrises and sunsets occur when strong storms begin to clear. This image of Texas Falls in Vermont was taken during a heavy rainstorm which was part of the fall-out of a July hurricane. I used 400 ISO print film in my Pentax 6x7 camera with a polarizing filter to capture this scene. At F/16 my shutter speed was four seconds. I call this a "Two Umbrella Shot" - one over my camera & tripod and the other over my camera bag. I wore a waterproof parka, rain pants, and hiking boots. In these kinds of severe conditions you can get great images if you are prepared, stay calm, take your time and work carefully. I always bring rain gear and two umbrellas on my photo journeys. "Rain can be beautiful"!
Early Morning at Big Sur	May 2008 Fog and Haze can Create Mood Just as foreground can be used to create the impression of 3D character, fog and haze can also be used to produce this perception. By creating the feeling of depth the viewer identifies with the landscape and remembers past experiences associated with similar scenes. These experiences trigger feelings and mood is communicated.
Autumn Leaves at Beaver Meadow Creek	April 2008 Foreground Creates Mood Arguably the most important compositional factor in dramatic landscapes is the use of foreground. By including strong foregrounds, the impression of 3D character can be created. When the viewer perceives depth they feel like they can step into the image. This triggers subconscious memories of things like: the fragrance of foreground flowers, the granular texture of foreground rocks, the fresh cool moisture of dew, or the warm feeling of sunlight scintillating across rocks. These triggered remembrances cause emotional responses and communicate mood.
Wave of Zion	March 2008 Watch for Interesting Patterns In composing images, look for repeating patterns and/or shapes. This repetition is called "echoing" and can be very pleasant to the viewer. In the image, "Wave of Zion", there are three areas of echoing: foreground, middle ground, and sky. Notice that the curved lines within each area are not only parallel but also have radiating character.
Winter at the Hogback	February 2008 Winter Snow Photography Most of us as photographers, when using exposures recommended by our camera's meter, have taken disappointing images of picturesque snow-filled, winter scenes. These images are generally too dark and sometimes appear bluish or grayish. To capture the pristine whites of a beautiful snow scene when using matrix, evaluative, or overall metering, overexpose the image by one full stop and bracket your images by a half stop over and above that exposure. In other words, expose images containing significant amounts of snow by +0.5, +1.0, and +1.5 stops above your camera's recommended settings. Photographers shooting digitally should also check their histograms to insure that the exposure is well balanced and that you have not overexposed too much so that highlight details have been lost.
Fall Cascade at Stony Brook	January 2008 Keep it Simple This is sometimes referred to as the KISS concept. After you finish taking a photograph, but before you move your camera, ask yourself what first attracted you to shoot this image. Then move in physically or zoom in tight on that component of the image that first attracted you. Chances are that the resulting image which isolates the attraction will be more powerful and communicative than the original image that contained more information. Most photographers try to include too much information. Remember in photography more is generally less.

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